In 1966, the U.S. Department of Justice did something it had never before done: Protect a witness against the Mafia during trial, and then relocate him (and his family) to safety under a new identity.
That witness was Joseph “The Animal” Barboza. Once the most-feared enforcer for the New England Mafia family of Raymond Patriarca, Barboza had run afoul of his boss.
With a mob contract out on him, Barboza felt he had nothing to lose by telling FBI agents and Federal prosecutors everything they wanted to know about the Boston Mafia.
Joseph Barboza
A 16-man security detail of deputy U.S. marshals was immediately assigned to Barboza. The marshals relocated him to Thatcher’s Island, off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. There they foiled two attempts by the mob to kill Barboza with a telescopic-sighted rifle.
Through a series of trials, Barboza sent the top echelons of the Patriarca family—including Patriarca himself—to prison. Then he and his wife and daughter were outfitted with new names and shipped out of New England to begin life over in safety.
The success of the Barboza detail led other Mafia witnesses to come forward. And this, in turn, led to the official creation of the Witness Security Program (WITSEC) by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970.
To date, the U.S. Marshals Service—which runs WITSEC—has successfully protected, relocated and given new identities to more than 8,500 witnesses and 9,900 of their family members.
Click here: U.S. Marshals Service, Witness Security Program.
It’s been the “new identities” part of the Program that has always attracted the most attention from the press and movie-makers.
Staged photograph of a WITSEC detail
In the early days of WITSEC, a handful of security Inspectors created these in a totally haphazard fashion. These included legal name-changes, Social Security card, driver’s licenses and falsified job histories.
In some cases, marshals would tell prospective employers, “We can vouch for this man’s skills as a(n) ———-, but that’s all we can tell you.”
Witnesses’ children were provided with fictitious school records. The names of schools would be changed, but the actual grades earned by the children would be retained.
These records would be “backstopped”—supported with documentation placed at those institutions where the witness (or his family) was alleged to have worked or attended school.
Similarly, medical records for witnesses and their children would be partially falsified. That is, names of hospitals they had obtained care in would be changed, but their actual medical histories would be accurately charted.
Since the 1990s, the Marshals Service has centralized its “re-documentation” program. Parents, spouses, children, siblings and even mistresses are all taken to an orientation center in a Washington suburb
There, witnesses are debriefed by Federal agents and prosecutors. They—and their families—are also prepared for the new lives they’ll take on under new identities.
In the early years of the program, witnesses were provided with flimsy aliases that quickly collapsed under even light scrutiny.
In 1973, Gerald Martin Zelmanowitz, a convicted stock swindler, found his new identity of Paul J. Maris easily punctured.
He got into a legal dispute with Creative Capitol, an investment firm that had loaned $2 million to his struggling new business,”The Paul Maris Company.”
Creative Capitol’s president, Milton Stewart, ordered a quiet investigation into Maris’ background.
This quickly turned up the following:
- Maris and all five members of his family had been issued sequential Social Security numbers.
- There was no record of Maris’ birth certificate.
- Maris had claimed a background in Army Intelligence, but his Army service number had never been issued.
- Maris’ resume said he had attended John Bartram High School in Philadelphia and Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. But officials at both schools denied that he had ever been one of their students.
- Maris’ alleged home address in Philadelphia turned out to be a vacant lot in an all-black neighborhood.
Finally, the private investigator discovered that Maris had testified against a Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo, a notorious New Jersey Mafia chieftain. His testimony had convicted DeCarlo for murder conspiracy.
Fearing for his life, Maris fled with his family from San Francisco. All of them were readmitted to the Witness Security Program and relocated under new identities.
Until recently, only organized crime witnesses with a price on their head could obtain falsified job histories. But no more.
Thousands—if not millions—of job-seeking Americans are now able to obtain stellar job references to impress potential employers.
CareerExcuse runs 200 fictional companies that don’t exist, have staffs or make money.
But for a fee, you can say you worked at one of them, and they’ll confirm you were a stellar employee while you were there.
For between $100 and $200, you’ll get
- One to three false—and positive—references from a company or companies you’ve never worked for.
- A fake company address.
- Local phone numbers to give to prospective employers.
- A guarantee that those employers will receive positive vouchers for you.
- A “completely legitimate” resume-writing service.
Unlike WITSEC, the clients of CareerExcuse aren’t hardened criminals. They are legitimate citizens trying to erase gaps in their resumes. Or they have worked for a long series of short-term employers and want to appear a stable employee.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Bureaucracybuster's Blog
ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BUZZFEED, CAREEREXCUSE, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DRUDGE RETORT, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, GERALD MARTIN ZELMANOWITZ, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, JOB-HUNTING, JOSEPH BARBOZA, MAFIA, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW IDENTITIES, NEWSWEEK, NPR, ORGANIZED CRIME CONTROL ACT OF 1970, PAUL MARIS, PBS NEWSHOUR, PISSED CONSUMER.COM, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, RESUMES, REUTERS, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WITNESS SECURITY PROGRAM, WONKETTE
ARROGANT EMPLOYERS MEET LYING JOB-SEEKERS: PART ONE (OF TWO)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on April 24, 2020 at 12:17 amIn 1966, the U.S. Department of Justice did something it had never before done: Protect a witness against the Mafia during trial, and then relocate him (and his family) to safety under a new identity.
That witness was Joseph “The Animal” Barboza. Once the most-feared enforcer for the New England Mafia family of Raymond Patriarca, Barboza had run afoul of his boss.
With a mob contract out on him, Barboza felt he had nothing to lose by telling FBI agents and Federal prosecutors everything they wanted to know about the Boston Mafia.
Joseph Barboza
A 16-man security detail of deputy U.S. marshals was immediately assigned to Barboza. The marshals relocated him to Thatcher’s Island, off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. There they foiled two attempts by the mob to kill Barboza with a telescopic-sighted rifle.
Through a series of trials, Barboza sent the top echelons of the Patriarca family—including Patriarca himself—to prison. Then he and his wife and daughter were outfitted with new names and shipped out of New England to begin life over in safety.
The success of the Barboza detail led other Mafia witnesses to come forward. And this, in turn, led to the official creation of the Witness Security Program (WITSEC) by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970.
To date, the U.S. Marshals Service—which runs WITSEC—has successfully protected, relocated and given new identities to more than 8,500 witnesses and 9,900 of their family members.
Click here: U.S. Marshals Service, Witness Security Program.
It’s been the “new identities” part of the Program that has always attracted the most attention from the press and movie-makers.
Staged photograph of a WITSEC detail
In the early days of WITSEC, a handful of security Inspectors created these in a totally haphazard fashion. These included legal name-changes, Social Security card, driver’s licenses and falsified job histories.
In some cases, marshals would tell prospective employers, “We can vouch for this man’s skills as a(n) ———-, but that’s all we can tell you.”
Witnesses’ children were provided with fictitious school records. The names of schools would be changed, but the actual grades earned by the children would be retained.
These records would be “backstopped”—supported with documentation placed at those institutions where the witness (or his family) was alleged to have worked or attended school.
Similarly, medical records for witnesses and their children would be partially falsified. That is, names of hospitals they had obtained care in would be changed, but their actual medical histories would be accurately charted.
Since the 1990s, the Marshals Service has centralized its “re-documentation” program. Parents, spouses, children, siblings and even mistresses are all taken to an orientation center in a Washington suburb
There, witnesses are debriefed by Federal agents and prosecutors. They—and their families—are also prepared for the new lives they’ll take on under new identities.
In the early years of the program, witnesses were provided with flimsy aliases that quickly collapsed under even light scrutiny.
In 1973, Gerald Martin Zelmanowitz, a convicted stock swindler, found his new identity of Paul J. Maris easily punctured.
He got into a legal dispute with Creative Capitol, an investment firm that had loaned $2 million to his struggling new business,”The Paul Maris Company.”
Creative Capitol’s president, Milton Stewart, ordered a quiet investigation into Maris’ background.
This quickly turned up the following:
Finally, the private investigator discovered that Maris had testified against a Angelo “Gyp” DeCarlo, a notorious New Jersey Mafia chieftain. His testimony had convicted DeCarlo for murder conspiracy.
Fearing for his life, Maris fled with his family from San Francisco. All of them were readmitted to the Witness Security Program and relocated under new identities.
Until recently, only organized crime witnesses with a price on their head could obtain falsified job histories. But no more.
Thousands—if not millions—of job-seeking Americans are now able to obtain stellar job references to impress potential employers.
CareerExcuse runs 200 fictional companies that don’t exist, have staffs or make money.
But for a fee, you can say you worked at one of them, and they’ll confirm you were a stellar employee while you were there.
For between $100 and $200, you’ll get
Unlike WITSEC, the clients of CareerExcuse aren’t hardened criminals. They are legitimate citizens trying to erase gaps in their resumes. Or they have worked for a long series of short-term employers and want to appear a stable employee.
Share this:
Like this:
Related